A day after a train's pantograph broke at Diva station and the resultant delay in services sparked off a rail roko and acts of vandalism by local commuters, Diva residents spoke of being disappointed with their local parliamentarian Rajan Vichare. The MP's promises of ensuring improved rail services for Diva and neighbouring towns have as yet stayed on paper, residents said.
In the past seven months, Thane MP Rajan Vichare made six visits to various railway stations for following up on commuter complaints. But the chronic breakdown of services shows that his interventions have failed, residents said.
The central line is plagued with technical failures such as pantograph breakages, overhead equipment (OHE) failures and problems with the rail-tracks. Commuters told dna it is high time that the central line is cured of its endemic problems. Sujata Patil, a commuter said, "We can understand about minor issues. But I feel that there is some major problem with the central line which has not been addressed for long, even after the area's MP made many promises in this connection."
More than 134 services on central railways were cancelled on 2nd January, leading to complete chaos and anarchy.
"We are not bothered about how many visits you (MP Vichare) make to the railway station," said Abhijeet Jaiswal, a commuter. He added, "We only demand improved and better services but services have been worsening in the past few months." Jaiswal said angrily, "The MP's visits are more about seeking a photo opportunity rather than doing actual work."
Vishal Rai, another commuter said, "Better services are not only about adding more coupon vending machines (CVM), or automated ticket vending machines (ATVM) and more ticket counters. There is a need to improve infrastructure and maintain it better. Rai added that lakhs of commuters travel on the central line, but the line has has not received upgrades for a long time. That is why, he said, it keeps breaking down, resulting in disruption of services.
Commuters and residents said that they voted for their local representatives in the hope that matters would change for the better, but they have worsened instead. Residents said they felt cheated at the hands of their local representatives.
dna tried to call up MP Vichare, but he was not available for comment.
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